Astral Matters - Jeff Grubb's Manual of the Planes, Dragon Magazine 159, Voidjammers, & The Free Adventure ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane By Joseph A. Mohr All For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition

I wrote about the Ethreal plane with the origins of the Xill today. And yes its Dave Anreseon day but I'm taking a bit of time out to speak about one of my favorite articles of Dragon magazine. Confession time, I was never that much of a Spelljammer fan. Too bad there wasn't an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition article about something akin to Spelljammer but totally separate?!
Gasp the world comes to an end but in Dragon magazine #159 we got the voidjammers article by Randal S. Doering & her captain archmage Peregin;

"About a thousand years ago, an archmage by the name of Peregrin became bored with adventuring on the Prime Material plane. He had overcome the most deadly foes of his world and had no interest in politics or a life of quiet research. Forsaking his home plane forever, he packed up his belongings and set off to seek a life in other realities and planes. He wandered dozens of planes, frequently crossing the Astral as he did so, and eventually it dawned on him that he could do something greater than simply wander in boredom. He decided to help travelers get around in the Astral plane, making their lives more interesting and exciting. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of the planes, Peregrin traveled to a dozen worlds to secure the materials and craftsmen for the vessels that would accomplish his dream. He envisioned a fleet of mighty ships that would sail the Astral plane, picking up voyagers from thousands of worlds and realities and taking them wherever they wished to go. No being would be discriminated against on the basis of race or alignment, so long as each obeyed ships's officers when on Peregrin's vessel"

Now while this looks like a prime opportunity to use the Githyanki & charge right into the astral plane let's take a step back here for a moment. You've essentially got a taxi service on the astral plane  & a possibility of really getting in deep into an adventure location. Too bad there wasn't an adventure that had the astral plane as the central focus?! Oh wait there's Joseph Mohr's free Dragon foot site adventure called ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane. "The crown of the queen of Zanzia has been stolen! The culprit has escaped into the astral plane. Heroes are needed to chase down this villain and recover this priceless artifact. Only brave and powerful adventurers of at least 10th to 15th level could possibly successful in this adventure."

So the PC's can basically use the services of the archmage Peregrin to hitch back to their own reality once the events of ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane are completed. This is a fifteenth level PC adventure but with a little imagination this adventure could be used as an introduction to the world of the Godbound rpg. The astral plane is not static & even higher level demi god adventurers are gonna have to think outside of the box. The archmage Peregrin & his officers are not to be trifled with. I've always thought that he might be a demigod in disguise because of some of the hints that were thrown into the article 'Voidjammers'. The Githyanki play a central role in this adventure & much of Joseph Mohr's module is up to his usual specifications. This might be a very good adventure to use with the essential Manual of the Planes book for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition by Jeff Grub. 



The material in this book is essential to a voidjammer campaign with the PC's dealing with some very nasty planar issues within ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane. The players are going to have to content with the legacy of many of the astral plane most dangerous issues. Again many of the rules from Manual of The Planes are already in ZA6 but overall I feel as a dungeon master the PC's need those rules as backup. Its nice as a dungeon master simply to have them within reach.

Grab ZA6 HERE
 ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane

Happy Gary Gygax Day & The High Road To The Astral Plane With The Free Adventure ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane by Joseph Mohr

Today would have been Gary Gygax's eightieth birthday today & we're supposed to celebrate his life. Gary Gygax was a lot of things designer, writer, & to a certain extent he was a Renaissance man. There was a lot of water under the bridge with the history of Dungeons & Dragons. For some folks those events yesterday even if it was forty plus years ago. But someplace along the line I stopped caring about all of the drama. Yes this includes the OSR's branch of garage band marketing.



I began to admire the sheer force of will & 'American know how' that went into the creation of the game I love. Being in a home based business for thirty plus years I know all of the trials & tribulations this can cause families. But the kind of success that original Dungeons & Dragons caused well that's another level all together. So I admire the man whose hard work & know how co created a phenomenon is one thing. But getting to know something of the man behind the game I came to like that guy as well. I've gotten to know that gentleman through the people who loved him, were his friends,co workers,etc. 
GenCon is happening right now but I've never had any desire to go again to that event. Instead every year I lament the fact that I've missed another GaryCon. But with an elderly parent whose condition is stable but a part of life adjustments have to be made. Many of you dear readers  are going through the exact same thing or worse.I'm so very sorry for those who are dealing with these situations. These are but after all merely amusements & games. That's all they ever really have been,really.  But the men who created these games in the form of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson have been huge influences on my life. Not only the games themselves but the men behind them. Gary Gygax was a family man & a risk taker that's the best I can strive for in this life. Family has to come first.



 Real life causes us to make compromises & adjustments as it always has. So this weekend instead of booking a plane for GenCon I'm getting together with friends to celebrate the life of Gary Gygax. Toss back some beer, throw some dice, & fight on!
Meanwhile this weekend I'm introducing another classic planar element into the campaign mix. I'm going through the Monster Manual & the Fiend Folio picking out some classic Astral planar monsters. The other wonderful little wrinkle for this is using bits & pieces of the mythology of Gods,Demi Gods, & Heroes for this little bit of tomfoolery



Now why is all of this going on?! Because I'm planning on introducing adventure elements of the free Dragon Foot. org  adventure ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane by Joseph Mohr to my home campaign the plot goes like this;

" The crown of the queen of Zanzia has been stolen! The culprit has escaped into the astral plane. Heroes are needed to chase down this villain and recover this priceless artifact. Only brave and powerful adventurers of at least 10th to 15th level could possibly successful in this adventure."

This isn't lower tier PC stuff at all. This is right up there in levels but its high time that the Astral Plane play a part in the otherworldly background of my home game. Its like this I've never needed Spell Jammer because I've had the Astral.



A Journey To The Astral Plane has all of the basics carved out within the module for planar travel. The encounters are interesting but many of the adventure elements could have far reaching consequences for a campaign if a DM isn't careful. This is a high level adventure but that means that the DM has to trickle down the events, adventure elements, etc. carefully in their own home games. But there's some good material here to use & adapt.

Wish me luck as things are about to get messy & weird for my players as the otherworldly Astral makes its way into the game! Happy Gary Gygax day!